Golf Babes

Ana Belac turned pro in March of 2020. In August, she played in her first LPGA Tour tournament. In October she won her first pro tournament on the Symetra Tour. Not too shabby a progression into the pro ranks for the Slovenian golfer! Belac, age 23 at the time of this writing, began her pro career on the Symetra Tour with a July 2020 debut. In her second tournament, she finished 11th. In her third, ninth. In her fifth event on the Symetra Tour, Ana placed fifth at the IOA Golf Classic in September. The next week, she had a 10th-place showing. So, if you're not keeping score at home, that means that her in her first six starts, she had three Top 10 finishes plus an 11th. Which brings us to the Carolina Golf Classic, a tournament that concluded on October 31. And a tournament that Ana Belac won for her first professional victory. She led after the first round, after the second and after the final — a wire-to-win win. Belac had a 6-stroke edge going into the final round, and

Matilda Castren is now a professional golf champion. Castren earned her first win as a pro at the Symetra Tour's 2020 Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship. Castren, from Finland, finished a comfortable five strokes ahead of the second-place golfer. Castren was the only golfer in the three-round tournament to post two scores in the 60s, shooting 68-68 over the first two rounds. She closed with a 2-under 71 to finish at 12-under 207. The victory moved her to 15th on the Symetra Tour money list. The win came one week after Castren finished 23rd in the 2020 Women's PGA Championship, an LPGA major and the fifth LPGA tournament she's played in 2020. That was her best finish to date on the LPGA. Castren, now 25 years old, turned pro in 2018 following a stellar collegiate career at Florida State. That career included seven NCAA victories, and Castren was a two-time All-America selection.

Luna Sobron Galmes, a Spanish golfer who typically is known as Luna Sobron, had to work overtime to earn her most recent pro tour victory. Eight extra holes of overtime. Sobron won an 8-hole playoff to take the title at the 2020 Santander Golf Tour Lerma, a tournament cosanctioned by the Ladies European Tour Access Series (LETAS). Sobron got into the playoff by firing a 68 in the final round, which tied her at 12-under with Mireia Prat and Anaelle Carnet. Sobron finally ended the playoff with a 4-foot birdie putt on the eighth playoff hole. It was the third career win on the LETAS for Sobron, who previously claimed the 2016 Terre Blanche Ladies Open and the 2017 Castellum Ladies Open. One of Luna's amateur highlights was winning the the 2014 European Amateur Championship. She also reached the championship match in the 2013 Ladies British Amateur Championship, where she lost to Georgia Hall. Sobron turned pro in 2016, after earning low amateur honors by finishing tied for 13

It took longer than many who watched her play amateur golfer thought it would, and probably longer than she thought it would, but Sophia Popov is an LPGA winner. And not just an LPGA winner, but a major championship winner. Popov won the 2020 Women's British Open on August 23 with a strong closing round of 68. She finished at 7-under 277, two strokes ahead of the runner-up Jasmine Suwannapura. Popov turned pro in 2014 following a stellar amateur career that included five wins while at the University of Southern California. She also won the 2010 European Ladies Amateur. Since 2016 she has had membership on the Symetra Tour and posted four runner-up finishes there, including at the Founders Tribute earlier this year. That was one sign that Popov was ready to make a step up, now that she's fully healthy (she missed quite a bit of time the past few years due to injuries). While the Symetra and LPGA tours were on hiatus due to COVID-19, Popov was staying sharp on the C

Annabell Fuller is the England Women's Amateur Stroke Play champion for the year 2020, a feat she pulled off at Burnham and Berrow Golf Club in the tournament that concluded on August 20. Fuller, who is 18 years old, entered the tournament with a World Amateur Golf Ranking of 51 and a European Golf Ranking of 34, rankings that will surely improve now. She has been as high as 21st in the world rankings. Earlier in 2020 Fuller was runner-up in the Swiss Amateur, and in 2019 she finished fifth in the European Ladies Amateur Championship. She is in her freshman season as a member of the University of Florida golf team. She also won the Major Champions Invitational in 2019, played for Team GB&I in the Vagliano Trophy that year, was on Team Europe in the 2018 Junior Ryder Cup, and was a member of Team GB&I in the 2018 Curtis Cup. At the English Stroke Play, Annabell carded rounds of 71, 68, 73 and 70 to finish at 6-under par. She won by three strokes. English am Annabel

Atthaya Thitikul is only 17 years old as this is written, and has been a pro golfer for less than a year. Yet, it seems like she's been around on the international golf scene for a while now. That's because she has been, for several years. But on July 24, 2020, the golfer who is called "Jeeno" by friends earned her first professional win at the Singha-Sat Thai LPGA Championship 2020, a tournament on the Thai LPGA Tour. Thitikul won the tournament with scores of 66, 66 and 67, finishing at 17-under-par 199. She won by two strokes. To be clear, this was not the first pro tournament Thitikul won: She previously won the Ladies European Thailand Championship in 2017 and in 2019, both co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour. But in both instances, Jeeno was playing as an amateur. So the 2020 Thai LPGA Championship is her first victory playing as a professional golfer. When Thitikul won the 2017 Ladies European Thailand Championship, she was only 14 years 4 mon